Toilet seal for augmenting the flushing capacity of toilet tanks in unstopping sewers



1950 H. u. BATES ET AL 2,529,587

TOILET SEAL FOR AUGMENTING THE FLUSHING CAPACITY OF TOILET TANKS INUNSTOPPING SEWERS Filed Nov. 12. 1947 John T enftins I N VEN TORS M BurgU .Baieb flT TOR NE)- Patented Nov. 14,1950

' TOILET: snAL Angeles, Calif.

Our invention'relates to a toilet seal for au menting theflushing'capacity of toilet tanks in un-stopping temporary stopped-upsewers.

The invention also pertains to new steps in the-method of unstopping acloggedsewer.

It'is not infrequent that patrons, especially of service stationsgpublictoilets, and often-times the same habit is practiced in hotels andapartment houses of throwinginto the toilet bowl disf carded sanitarynapkins, which together with toilet seat covers and'the use ofnewspaper'toilet paper and the like after repeated performancestemporarily stop up the toilet bowl and sewer thereby necessitatingcalling in the service of a plumber or plumbers assistant, to remove thestoppage.

The practice of having to call in the plumber from time to time is anexpensive one and if the defect is not remedied at once it soon createsan unsanitary condition which is injurious tothe public welfare. 7

Accordingly, it is a paramount object of this invention to provide meansfor closing air-tightly the mouths of conventional water closet bowls toaugment the flushing capacity of a toilet tank by compressing theentrapped air in the bowl as a a result of the water flowing into thebowl, until the combined built-up pressures of water and air becomegreat'enough to flush away any .minor stoppage in the closet bowl and/orin the sewer line adjacent theretoto remove obstacles of the likeaforementioned.

, Further objects include a device having a new mode of operation and anew mode of assembling and whose function is entirely different fromanything heretofore contemplated.

Also, it is an object to provide new steps in the method of blowingv outobstructions tempoffrarily stopping up toilet bowls and sewer lines.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafterappear.

Referring to the drawing'wherein is shown a preferred embodiment of theinvention,

. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a water closet andtoilet bowl equippedwith the improved device, a portion of the floor upon which the toiletbowl rests being broken away to expose the closed-off sewer. q,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

.Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the bowl apart from thetoilet seal. t

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the toilet seal per se on a scalesimilar to thatshown in Fi 529,587 l V t V ,ron AUGMENTINGa -Tflii-,FLUSHING,5CA PACITY,OF TOILETTANKS q i1 Unsrorrmesnwms, Harry' U.Bates and'John 'r; Perkins,

' Calif.;=said Bates assignor to Jess E. Te'el, Lois...

Los Ang'eles,

ApplicationlNoveni ber 12, 1947, Serial s.,j;j7s5,4 "l-Claim. (01.4-257) ,:7

Referring in detail to the drawing and first Fig. 1, included among theconventional parts are the water closet bowl B, the water closet Cconnected to the closet-bowl, the water intake line W, the handle'Hfor'flushing the bowl, and the sewer line S into whichqthe flushing waterand; waste matter from thebowl flows.

As shown in Fig. 2 the rim of the bowl B is equipped witha downturnedflange F extending inwardly around the bowl. H The toilet seal-4fincludes a cover plate 5,

a gasket 'of thick spongy rubber underlyingsaid cover plate in a fixedrelation thereto, an elongated threaded bolt 1, the end thereof oppositeits head extending upwardly through the cover and gasket, an elongatedlocking bar 8 swingably carried by the bolt head 9 in a downwardlyspaced relation to said plate and gasket, a lock nut ID to secure saidbar fixedly to said bolt head, a. wing nut ll pinned to the threaded endof the bolt whereby to rotate said locking bar relatively to saiddown-turned flange for locking and unlocking the latter bar therewith,the wings l2 of said wing nut extending in the same direction as thelocking bar, and a jamb nut l3 interposed between said cover plate andwing nut for screwing downwardly upon said cover plate to compress thegasket into an air tight relation with the rim of the bowl after the barhas been manually rotated through the medium of the wing nut into alocking relation with the flange F as shown in .Fig. 1. i

flange and the apparatus can be removed from the toilet-bowl.

. In the position of the parts shown in Fig. 1, the jamb nut can berotated clockwisely to clamp the locking bar against the flange F andthereby compress the gasket, and when the jamb nut is loosened, byreversing its rotation, the locking bar canbe rotated so as to coincidewith the parts for connecting the toilet seal to the toilet long axis ofthe toilet seal wherein the device can be detached as aforesaid, thewings of the wing nut in each instance being utilized to denote thedirection in which the locking bar extends in relation to the toiletseal.

When the device is in the operative position Shown in Fig, -1, bydepressing the handle H and flushing the toilet tank the water flowinginto the bowl will compress the air entrapped therein to augment theflushing action of the tank.

With regard to the new steps in the method of un-stopping a cloggedsewer, the mouth of the toilet bowl is first air-tightly closedentrapping the air therein, and then the toilet tank is flushed tocompress the air to augment the flushing action of the water. I i ,7

It will thus be seen from the. foregoing that an extremely simple devicehas beenicreated for providing new and useful resultsflnot heretoforecontemplated, that the peculiar niode inwhich' the elements areassembled .p'novidenew and use! ful results for indicating the directionin which the locking bar extends at rall times, and that through the newuse to which the device is put new and unobvious results are achieved inthe manner in which the device coacts with the flushingoperation of thetank to move obstacles temporarily clogging a drain.

We claim:

In a removable closure for sealing the top opening of a water flushedcloset bowl to provide an air tight chamber for pressure flushing of thedischarge from the bowl, said bowl having :means at the edge of its topopening adapted forengagement with a clamping member, a rigid plateshaped to fit on the top of the bowl and @to completely cover the topopening thereof, :re-

silient sealing means on the underside of said r so as to bear against.the plate for releasably holdingthe bar in closure clamping position for.Qclamping the plate on and releasing the plate from the bowl, theclamping position compressing part of 'the resilient means between themargin of the plate andthe top edge of the bowl, and a winged member.fixed on the upper part of the stem operative for turning the stem andclamp- .ing bar to clamping and releasing positions, to

hold the stem during tightening of the nut, and toindicate the positionof the clamping bar under the plate.

I HARRY U. BATES.

JOHN T. PERKINS.

REFERENCES CITED The following-references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 706,869 Woodruff Aug. 12, 1902733,787 Woodrufli a July 14, 1903

